时间：2022-10-10 05:50:24
A mouse and a lion
One day a mouse went out to find something to eat. He ran carelessly through some tall grass. He ran into a big lion. The lion caught him，held him tightly（紧紧地）and would not let him go.
“Please let me go，Mr Lion，”said the mouse. “One day I will help you.”
The lion laughed and thought，how a little mouse could help a big lion!Then he said，“Very well，I will let you go. But you must walk more carefully.”
“Thank you，”the mouse said.“You are very kind.”
The next week the mouse was again looking for something to eat. He saw the lion had fallen into a net of strong ropes. He could not move.
The mouse cut one of the ropes with his teeth and then the other. Soon the lion was free. He was very pleased and thanked the mouse. They became good friends since then.
Dogsour friends
Dogs have been man's good friends for thousands of years. Many stories are told about how brave dogs helped people in trouble. With the help of dogs，many people lost in snow found their way home.
Dogs have also helped in many scientific researches. The first space traveller was a dog named Laika. It was set up in man-made earth satellite in 1957 by Russian scientists.
Dogs have become film stars，too. A dog called Lassie was the star in quite a few American films.
Dogs can hear and smell better than man，but they can not see so well. A dog may live for about 12 or 13 years. A thirteen-year-old child is not grown-up，but a thirteen-year-old dog is a very old dog indeed.
Hen turns to cock
Have you ever heard that a hen has turned to a cock？Such a strange thing has really happened in Fujian.
It was reported in a newspaper that a 4.5-kilogram yellow hen had become a cock in Fujian Province. Cai Guozhi，owner of the hen，told the following story.
He got the bird as a present from his sister some years ago. It laid eggs，hatched chicks and had nothing different from other hens，yet something strange happend last spring. It stopped giving eggs. Then last summer，its comb（鸡冠）grew to about 5 centimetres and turned from pink（粉红色）to red. The feather on its neck and tail also became as bright as any cock's. This spring，it has begun crowing early every morning and got aggressive（好斗的）. It fights other cocks and sometimes drives hens away.
Do you believe it is true？It is quite strange and interesting!
Why the cat eats before washing
Do you know why the cat eats first and then washes？One day the cat took hold of a mouse and wanted to eat him. The mouse was very clever and said，“Don't you have any manners at all？ Everyone knows you should wash your hands and face before you eat.”The cat felt ashamed（羞耻）and began to wash. The mouse ran away at once and the cat lost his meal. Ever since then cats have always eaten first and then washed themselves.
Monuments to animals
In every country there are monuments（纪念碑）to people. But in some countries there are also monuments to animals.
A monument to a dog stands in Paris. It's the monument to the dog named Barri. Barri had saved forty men. When Barri was saving the forty-one man，he killed Barri，thinking that it was a wolf.
Horses have always worked for men. Like dogs，horses are men's best friends. People remember them and built monuments to horses. When you visit Moscow（莫斯科），you will see two monuments：one is to the horse named Kvadrat and the other to Symvol，race horses，the champions of many competitions（多次比赛获冠军的两匹赛马）.
There is even a monument to a pig. The history of the monument is strange. The people of a German town noticed that a pig was often digging in one and the same place. “Why？”they thought. When they dug up the soil（地表层） of the place，they found salt under it. Salt was very expensive at that time. So the people of the town got salt and the pig got a statue（塑像）.